7 secret iPhone features you need to try

Did you know you could turn your iPhone’s camera flash into a blinking alert light, or that you can shake your iPhone to “undo” a typo? No? You’re not the only one.

Read on for seven clever iPhone features that you might not have known about, from how to take a screenshot to an easy way to baby-proof an iPhone app.

1. Turn the camera flash into a blinking alert light

Want to see rather than just hear that your iPhone is ringing? You can, with a little help from the iPhone’s camera flash.

In just a few taps, you can set the LED flash for the iPhone’s rear-facing camera to blink anytime a calls comes in, whenever a text pops into your message inbox, or for any other iPhone event that would normally set off an alert tone or vibration.

You can turn your baby loose on your iPhone once you activate Guided Access mode.

4. Baby-proof an iPhone app

Worried that your iPhone-addicted little one might wipe your work email with an ill-timed swipe?

Never fear. You can temporarily “lock down” just about any iPhone app, freezing all the hardware buttons (including the “Home” button) and letting you draw zones on the screen that won’t react to taps or swipes.

5. Take a screenshot

Ever wanted to take a quick snapshot of your iPhone’s display? Or have you taken a screenshot by accident, without quite knowing how you did it?

Well, taking a screenshot on the iPhone (or iPad, or iPod Touch) is a nifty, easy trick—so easy, in fact, that more than a few puzzled readers have written in, wondering how snapshots of their iPhone’s home page wound up in their mobile photo albums.